Down for Everyone or Just Me? How to Tell in 60 Seconds
That moment of doubt: is the site broken, or is it your connection? Here are five fast, reliable ways to find out.
Every internet user knows the moment: you click a link, the page spins, and nothing loads. Before you restart your router in a panic, it's worth answering one simple question — is the website down for everyone, or just for you? The answer decides everything you do next.
1. Use an independent status checker
The fastest method is a server-side checker like the one on our homepage. It contacts the website from our server, not your device. If our server reaches the site fine, the problem is on your end. If our server can't reach it either, the site is genuinely down. This single test settles it in seconds.
2. Check outage aggregators and social media
For big platforms, search the service name plus “down” on X. Real outages generate thousands of posts within minutes — faster than any official announcement. Outage aggregator sites collect user reports on a live map, which is especially useful for spotting regional outages.
3. Try a different network
Switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data (or vice versa). If the site loads on one network but not the other, your network — not the website — is the problem. This catches ISP routing faults, DNS issues, and overzealous firewalls.
4. Try a different device and browser
Phone vs. laptop, Chrome vs. Firefox, normal vs. incognito window. If the site works in incognito but not in your main browser, a broken extension or corrupted cache is the culprit — clear both and move on.
5. Go old-school: ping and DNS
On a computer, open a terminal and run ping example.com. Replies mean the server is reachable and the issue is higher up (your browser, the site's app layer). “Unknown host” means DNS can't resolve the name — try switching to a public DNS like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1.
What to do with the answer
Down for everyone: there's nothing to fix on your side. Check the service's official status page, then wait — most outages resolve within a few hours. Just you: work through the network and browser checks above; nine times out of ten you'll find it. Our 12-step troubleshooting guide walks through the fixes in order.
Don't guess — test it. Our free checker tells you in seconds whether any website is up or down.
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